Net users face web ban for illegal downloads

Web users who illegally download films and music could be cut off from the internet by their service providers under proposals which are set to be unveiled next week.

The Government wants to force internet service providers (ISPs) to clamp down on the six million people who access pirated material every year as companies are claiming the practice costs them billions of pounds in revenue, it was reported.

Internet users who illegally download music or films will receive an email warning for a first offence, face a suspension for a second offence and have their internet contract terminated for the third offence.

The proposal comes from a Green Paper on the creative industries called The World’s Creative Hub, which is due to be unveiled by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and Gordon Brown next week.

According to the paper the government will ‘move to legislate to require internet service provider to take action on illegal file-sharing’.

A consultation document on the proposal is expected to be issued within coming months.

Britain’s four biggest internet providers – BT, Virgin Media, Tiscali and Orange – have been in talks with music companies and film distributors and studios about a voluntary code.

One of the disputed points is the problem of ‘wifi piggy-backing’ – the practice in which someone accesses the internet using another person’s wifi network.

But Roz Groome, vice-president of anti-piracy for NBC Universal, welcomed the prospect of legislation.

‘We welcome the signal from Government that it values the health of the creative industries and takes seriously the damage caused by widespread online copyright infringement,’ she said.

‘We call upon ISPs to take action now.’

A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association said he hoped a voluntary arrangement would be preferable to legislation.

‘Every right thinking body knows that self-regulation is much the better option in these areas,’ he told The Times.

And Ed Vaizey, the Conservative’s Shadow Arts Minister, said: ‘David Cameron called on the internet providers to address this issue last summer.

‘The credibility of the Government’s latest threat is underminded by the fact that ministers have spent so many years dithering on whether to legislate.’